Tuesday, May 19, 2015

#001 - True Detective (Season One, Episode One)

I never watched True Detective when it was originally airing, nor have I seen it up until now. All I knew about the series prior to beginning was that it starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in critically acclaimed roles for both of them and that it was about detectives solving a murder. Little did I know that by taking the plunge and firing up the first episode of this show would start me down the path of creating this column.

"The Long Bright Dark"

Character
development is a serious problem for modern television dramas. Too often,
essential roles are atrociously characterized, leading viewers to rely on the
story alone to carry a show. True
Detective not only disregards this unfortunate trend, it spits in the face
of the very idea. In one episode, both Detectives Hart and Cohle are incredibly
and astonishingly fleshed out without show creator and writer Nick Pizzolatto losing any of the core depth that frames
the story structure.

The
story itself – a murder case involving a ritualized killing and occult display
– moves at a snails pace because it must. Real murder investigations take a lot
of time, and Pizzolatto does a phenomenal job of making a
little bit of information feel as important and necessary to the case as any
new piece of evidence would in real life. Crimes of this magnitude aren't solved in 45 minutes.

Matthew
McConaughey’s Rustin Cohle is a paradox that acknowledges and accepts his own duality. He
doesn’t care what others believe about the world because his personal philosophy
points to a universal truth that precludes opinions and emotions; Cohle's an
asshole because he doesn’t care. It’s this same “flaw” that makes him such an incredibly observant detective. At the beginning of "The Long Bright Dark", Hart
(Woody Harrelson) warns Cohle of adding his own narrative to the case,
something that quickly becomes a moot point as viewers are shown how Cohle sees the
world; he could never attach emotion
to a case because he doesn’t believe in emotional nuance. This doesn’t mean he
can’t feel anything, only that he usually disregards those feelings.

Harrelson
as Detective Martin Hart is a testament to the man’s acting chops. Hart is a
Louisiana man through and through, but his good, Christian, country boy
persuasions are coming under scrutiny by a man he doesn’t even like. Hart is an
everyman that doesn’t yet understand that he wants to understand more. Hart has
convinced himself that he’s happy, when in reality, the weight of his job
crushes him far more than he wants to admit, and Cohle’s unique worldview
challenges everything Hart has ever known.

The
dialogue, especially, is what makes “The Long Bright Dark” such an effective
and engrossing first episode. Clever, witty dialogue and comedy aren’t mutually
exclusive, and Pizzolatto knows this very basic concept. Cohle’s lines are
meant to seemingly refined, only rough when examined closely. Hart wears his
heart on his sleeve because it isn’t incredibly vivid anyway. The interactions
between these two characters foreshadows a long case that pits their
ideological differences against each other.